“More information has become public about the girl who was found in the lake, after DNA samples had been taken she was found to be a relation of the Tachibana family, anyone with more information or relations to the Tachibana family are urged to contact authorities.”

The newspaper had been reporting on the same case as it had the day before yesterday.

“Why… Why… did you…?” Ren had been a close friend of Emilia’s since they had started attending school. He had only just arrived at his house, the paper being about a girl’s death was not helping his mental state at all. He had been directly behind Shiro when she was approaching Emilia's body, after everything that happened he was left dumbfounded. His main question was just, why….? And why hadn’t she said anything about the basement to anyone? He was lost in his thoughts, trying to hold back tears all the while trying to figure why any of this happened, he didn’t even want to think about that creature.

“Ren?” His 10 year old little sister with black hair up in pigtails and dark brown eyes, Rin had entered the room and had begun making herself a bowl of cereal. “You look worried.”

“I’m fine, there’s nothing going on, Rin.” Ren didn’t want to traumatise her with the news of Emilia’s death since she had also been friends with her and was still just a little girl. “I need to go out and get some fresh air. I might be a while.”

“Ok, I’ll try and make lunch before you get home.”

“Thanks Rin.”

He hadn’t planned on going outside just for a breath of fresh air, this was merely an excuse for what he had been planning to do since he woke up.

Again, today was scorching hot, the cicadas wouldn’t stop their loud cries, the sound of the leaves rustling made Ren feel unsettled as he approached the small single story house of his late friend. There had to be information inside that would give him a clearer image of the situation. A plate that had been left on the living room coffee table caught Ren’s attention, upon closer inspection he found a small crack through the middle of the plate. He picked the plate up but it fell apart in his hand, where the crack had been was covered in a red stain. He continued on until he reached the door to her room, his head became filled with fear as he saw a bigger red stain on the carpet outside.

“W-was she already d-dead?” He mumbled to himself in a shaky voice

He entered the room, there were remnants of her short blonde hair on the desk next to her bed, he looked into the desks drawer, inside was a book the only thing written being

“Get the key to the basement.”

He looked around some more, inside her wardrobe was a wet looking uniform, as he grabbed it, it became apparent that what was dripping from the uniform was blood. He grabbed the uniform and held it close, covering himself in blood in the process, and fell to his knees crying.

The road seemed to stretch out forever, all the buildings surrounding Ren were shaking furiously in the mirage caused by this heat. He ran through the living room, straight into his bedroom, changed out of his bloodied clothing and put Emilia’s uniform into his cupboard.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Ren? I have lunch ready.” Rin poked her head into the room.

“I’ll be there in a second.”

They had the lunch Rin had prepared for them, Ren’s crying early made it taste salty but he didn’t say anything. After lunch Ren decided to call some of Emilia’s other friends, they all agreed that they should meet up later and hold a memorial for her and the other student on the mountain. Ren decided to have a nap before meeting up with them.

As he approached the mountain he saw a familiar figure.

“E-Emilia!” His eyes started to water. “I thought you were gone forever, I love you!”

Emilia started to walk towards him slowly, eventually she jumped at him and kissed him but something was wrong… her lips felt lifeless… she backed away from Ren… There were stitches down the middle of her body again, they started to come undone.

“REN!” He heard the voice of his little sister coming up behind him, the eel creature growing in size as it exited the insides of Emilia launched at her and took the top of her body off, the thing turned around and flicked itself onto Ren’s face.

“AHHHHHH!!!!” He awoke in his bed breathing heavily.

“Ren? Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, just a bad dream…” Ren started to become fearful of everything around him as the dream settled in.

“...Don’t worry Rin, we'll be ok.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’ll be ok, I’ll save us… Don’t leave, don’t leave.”

“Ren? You’re starting to scare me.” Rin started to laugh nervously.

“I can… If I… I got it!” Ren rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a lighter out of the drawer.

“REN!!! What are you-!?”

“We don’t have to live in fear, it can’t get to us if it can’t get in… It can’t get in if fire surrounds the house!”

“REN! NO! YOU’LL BURN THE HOUSE DOWN!!” Rin shrieked in terror as Ren threw the lighter to the ground. The flames caught onto Rin’s skirt, eventually reaching her skin.

“R-Rin…? w-what did I just…?” The world around Ren seemed to freeze as he watched his little sister slowly burn in front of him, too shocked to even attempt moving to save her. A plank from the roof above him eventually snapped, falling into his neck, completely impaling him, his consciousness faded as he heard an explosion from one of the gas canisters that had been left in the backyard.

“Is he late?” The others had already arrived at the mountain, two students had been sent to collect the bodies that were to be buried.

“Wait, isn’t that his house?” The fire was visible from the mountain.

“We better leave him out for now, he’ll be able to pay her a visit after that fire is sorted out.”

They could see the silhouettes of the two bringing up the bodies. After the bodies had been buried they surrounded the graves, joining hands and stood in silence. On their way home a group of students walked past Ren’s house.

“I-isn’t that..” His body was visible underneath the debris of the house.

“How the fuck… I think we should take him too.”

“Wait, isn’t that his sister?” Her body was burnt so much so that it was almost unrecognisable.

“Something really bad happened here…” As they were leaving the house to go back to the mountain they saw a familiar figure.

“You’re taking them to the mountain, right? I’ve got a better idea. A way for you to not fear for your lives.”

The sun set slowly into the night sky.